Abstract
This paper reviews research on tolerance developed by task practice under alcohol, and concludes that tolerance in such a situation is influenced by the environmental consequence of drug-compensatory performance. Analysis of the evidence proposes that a learned association between the response and its consequence results in a response expectancy. When the consequence of drug-compensatory performance is more valuable, more tolerance is displayed. Support for this learning analysis is provided by some recent alcohol research indicating that response expectancies affecting tolerance can also be acquired by mental rehearsal of performance and its outcome under drug. Further, these response expectancies may be acquired during the course of a single drug dose, and may alter the display of acute tolerance to alcohol. Additional theoretical predictions are discussed, and the possible social and clinical relevance of the evidence is considered.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Annear WC, Vogel-Sprott M (1985) Mental rehearsal and classical conditioning contribute to ethanol tolerance in humans. Psychopharmacology 87:90–93
Beirness DJ, Vogel-Sprott M (1984) Alcohol tolerance in social drinkers: operant and classical conditioning effects. Psychopharmacology 84:393–397
Bolles RC (1972) Reinforcement, expectancy and learning. Psychol Rev 79:394–409
Branch MN (1983) Behavioral tolerance to the stimulating effects of pentobarbital: a within-subject determination. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 18:25–30
Brocco MJ, Rastogi SK, McMillan DE (1983) Effects of chronic phencyclidine (PCP) on the schedule controlled behavior of rats. J Pharmacol Exp Ther 226:449–454
Cappell H, LeBlanc A (1979) Tolerance to, and physical dependence on ethanol: why do we study them? Drug Alcohol Depend 4:15–31
Cappell H, Roach C, Poulos CX (1981) Pavlovian cross-tolerance between pentobarbital and ethanol. Psychopharmacology 74:54–57
Chen CS (1968) A study of the alcohol tolerance effect and an introduction of a new behavioral technique. Psychopharmacologia 12:433–440
Chen CS (1972) A further note on studies of acquired behavioral tolerance to alcohol. Psychopharmacologia 27:265–274
Chen CS (1979) Acquisition of behavioral tolerance to ethanol as a function of reinforced practice in rats. Psychopharmacology 63:285–288
Colwill RM, Rescorla RA (1986) Associative structures in instrumental learning. In: Bower GH (ed) The psychology of learning and motivation, vol 20. Academic Press, New York, pp 55–104
Corfield-Sumner PK, Stolerman JP (1978) Behavioral tolerance. In: Blackman D, Sanger D (eds) Contemporary research in behavioral pharmacology. Plenum Press, New York, pp 391–448
Crowell CR, Hinson RE, Siegel S (1981) The role of conditioned drug responses to the hypothermic effects of ethanol. Psychopharmacology 73:51–54
Dafters R, Anderson G (1982) Conditioned tolerance to the tachycardia effect of ethanol in humans. Psychopharmacology 78:365–367
de Souza Moreira LF, Caprigliore MJ, Masur J (1981) Development and reacquisition of tolerance to ethanol administered pre- and post-trials to rats. Psychopharmacology 73:165–167
Egger MD, Miller NE (1962) Secondary reinforcement in rats as a function of information value and reliability of the stimulus. J Exp Psychol 64:97–104
Elsmore TF (1976) The role of reinforcement loss in tolerance to chronic THC effects on the operant behavior of rhesus monkeys. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 5:123–128
Engel R, Paskaruk S, Green N (1978) Driver education evaluation tests: summary report. Ministry of Transport, Ontario, Canada
Feltz DL, Landers DM (1983) The effect of mental practice on motor skill learning and performance: a meta-analysis. J Sport Psychol 5:25–57
Ferraro DP, Grilly DM (1973) Lack of tolerance to delta-9-THC in chimpanzees. Science 179:490
Galbicka G, Lee DM, Branch MN (1980) Schedule-dependent tolerance to behavioral effects of delta-9-THC when reinforcement frequencies are matched. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 1:85–91
Goldberg L (1943) Quantitative studies of alcohol tolerance in man. The influence of ethyl alcohol on sensory, motor and psychological functions referred to blood alcohol in normal and habituated individuals. Acta Physiol Scand [Suppl 16] 5:1–128
Goldberg L, Havard JDJ (1968) Research on the effects of alcohol and drugs on driver behaviour and their importance as a cause of road accidents. Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Paris
Haubenreisser T, Vogel-Sprott M (1987) Reinforcement reduces behavioral impairment under an acute dose of alcohol. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 26:29–33
Hinson RE, Siegel S (1980) Contribution of Pavlovian conditioning to ethanol tolerance and dependency. In: Rigter H, Crabbe JC (eds) Alcohol tolerance and dependence. Elsevier/North Holland Biomedical Press, Amsterdam, pp 181–199
Kalant H, LeBlanc AE, Gibbins RJ (1971 Tolerance to, and dependence on, some non-opiate psychotropic drugs. Pharmacol Rev 23:135–191
Kamin LJ (1969) Predictability, surprise, attention, and conditioning. In: Campbell BA, Church RM (eds) Punishment and aversive behavior. Appleton-Century-Crofts, New York, pp 279–298
Krasnegor NA (1978) Introduction. In: Krasnegor NA (ed) Behavioral tolerance: research and treatment implications (Nat Inst Drug Abuse Res Monogr No 18). US Government Printing Office, Washington DC, pp 1–3
Le AD, Poulos CX, Cappell H (1979) Conditioned tolerance to the hypothermic effect of ethyl alcohol. Science 206:1109–1110
LeBlanc AE, Gibbins R, Kalant H (1973) Behavioral augmentation of tolerance to ethanol in the rat. Psychopharmacologia 30:117–122
LeBlanc AE, Kalant H, Gibbins R (1976) Acquisition and loss of behaviorally augmented tolerance to ethanol in the rat. Psychopharmacology 48:153–158
Mann RE, Vogel-Sprott M (1981) Control of alcohol tolerance by reinforcement in nonalcoholics. Psychopharmacology 75:315–320
Mansfield JG, Cunningham CL (1980) Conditioning and extinction of tolerance to the hypothermic effect of ethanol in rats. J Comp Physiol Psychol 94:962–969
Mansfield JG, Benedict RS, Woods SC (1983) Response specificity of behaviorally augmented tolerance to ethanol supports a learning interpretation. Psychopharmacology 79:94–98
Meichenbaum D (1977) Cognitive-behavior modification. Plenum Press, New York
Mellanby E (1919) Alcohol: its absorption and disappearance from blood under different conditions. Special report series (No 31) Medical Research Committee, London
Overton DA (1984) State dependent learning and drug discriminations. In: Iverson LL, Iversen SD, Snyder SH (eds) Handbook of psychopharmacology, vol 18. Plenum Press, New York, pp 59–127
Rawana E, Vogel-Sprott M (1985) The transfer of alcohol tolerance, and its relation to reinforcement. Drug Alcohol Depend 16:75–83
Rescorla RA (1967) Pavlovian conditioning and its proper control procedures. Psychol Rev 74:71–80
Rescorla RA (1987) A Pavlovian analysis of goal-directed behavior. Am Psychol 42:119–129
Rescorla RA, Wagner AR (1972) A theory of Pavlovian conditioning: variations in the effectiveness of reinforcement and nonreinforcement. In: Black AH, Prokasy WF (eds) Classical conditioning. Appleton-Century-Crofts, New York, pp 64–99
Richardson A (1967) Mental practice: a review and discussion. Part I. Res Q 38:95–107
Schwartz B, Lacey H (1982) Behaviorism, science, and human nature. Norton, New York
Schuster CR, Dockens W, Woods J (1966) Behavioral variables affecting the development of amphetamine tolerance. Psychopharmacologia 9:170–182
Sdao-Jarvie K (1988) The role of response expectancies in the acquisition and display of alcohol tolerance. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada
Sdao-Jarvie K, Vogel-Sprott M (1986) Mental rehearsal of a task before or after ethanol: tolerance facilitating effects. Drug Alcohol Depend 18:23–30
Shapiro A, Nathan P (1986) Human tolerance to alcohol: the role of Pavlovian conditioning processes. Psychopharmacology 88:90–95
Siegel S, Sdao-Jarvie K (1986) Attenuation of ethanol tolerance by a novel stimulus. Psychopharmacology 88:258–261
Staiger P, White J (1988) Conditioned alcohol-like and alcoholopposite responses in humans. Psychopharmacology 95:87–91
Vogel-Sprott M (1979) Acute recovery and tolerance to low doses of alcohol: differences in cognitive and motor skill performance. Psychopharmacology 61:287–291
Vogel-Sprott M, Rawana E, Webster R (1984) Mental rehearsal of a task under ethanol facilitates tolerance. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 21:329–331
Vogel-Sprott M, Kartechner W, McConnell D (1989) Impairing effects of an acute dose of alcohol are influenced by the outcome of performance under drug. Subst Abuse (in press)
Wagner AR, Rescorla RA (1972) Inhibition in Pavlovian conditioning: application of a theory. In: Boakes RA, Halliday MS (eds) Inhibition and learning. Academic Press, New York, pp 310–337
Wenger JR, Berlin V, Woods SC (1980) Learned tolerance to the behaviorally disruptive effects of ethanol. Behav Neural Biol 28:418–430
Wenger JR, Tiffany TM, Bombardier C, Nicholls K, Woods SC (1981) Ethanol tolerance in the rat is learned. Science 213:575–577
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
This work was supported in part by a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada grant A8321 to the first author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Vogel-Sprott, M., Sdao-Jarvie, K. Learning alcohol tolerance: the contribution of response expectancies. Psychopharmacology 98, 289–296 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00451677
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00451677